Although the 88th edition of the Le Mans 24-Hour Race has been pushed back to 19th-20th September 2020, IDEC SPORT will nevertheless be at the start of the virtual edition on 13th-14th June and they are taking it very seriously.
Covid-19 has had a huge impact on sports evens and in particular car racing. IDEC SPORT like many other teams has seen its programme completely upset.
While the real magic of Le Mans will not be seen until September, an exceptional virtual edition has been set up by the ACO, WEC and Motorsports Games.
There will be fifty teams lining up at the start at 3 p.m. on 13th June. The cars are split into LMP2 and GTE categories. Each team will include at least two pro drivers and at least two sim racers.
IDEC SPORT will be competing with Paul-Loup Chatin and Richard Bradley driving the Oreca #28 in the ELMS. They will be aided by Franco Colapinto and Josh Purwien.
Over the past few years we have already seen the importance of Sim Racing and simulators, but virtual racing really took off during the lockdown and now real and virtual racing are interlinked. The virtual Le Mans 24-Hour Race aims to be a real competition. The weather may change and light adapted to the time of day. The cars can be fully set up and adjusted by the teams. Fuel stops and tyre changes will be part of the strategy. They will have to change drivers too. Each driver must drive for at least four hours during the event. The maximum driving time in the race will be seven hours for each driver.
The drivers are already busy and being helped by Nicolas Brisseau, the Oreca engineer with IDEC SPORT. “There is a lot of organising to do around this event. There are eight of us working on this competition,” explained Paul-Loup Chatin.
A lot of effort has gone into production and filming of this event by the organisers. Commentators and pit reporters will be live from a TV studio in Paris. The race will be available for free on many video platforms. (TV programming will be announced later today).
